Tashi Lumpo

Tashi Lumpo or Tashi Lhümpo tä´shē lo͝om´pō [key] [Tibetan,=mount of blessing], lamasery, SE Tibet Autonomous Region, China, just outside Xigazê. Founded in the 15th cent., it is one of the best known and largest lamaseries in Tibet. Its grand lama, known as the Panchen Lama, or Tashi Lama, has, since the 17th cent., been second in rank only to the Dalai Lama. Before the Communist Chinese occupied Tibet in 1951 there were about 4,000 priests and monks at Tashi Lumpo. In 1959 the Dalai Lama fled to India, and the Chinese Communists installed the Panchen Lama in his place.